Tuesday, 24 March 2015

Q & A with Cheryl Robson

Amongst many other
achievements, writer, editor, arts entrepreneur, and charity activist Cheryl
Robson founded Aurora Metro Books, which has offices in London, Sydney, and
Singapore, where she is now based. Aurora Metro is strong in non-fiction
titles relating to the arts, in biography, and in fiction for young
adults. It also has an exciting adult fiction list, including debut
novels from many new voices; it is particularly keen to champion previously
unpublished women writers. The company is committed to bringing
non-English-language writers to an English readership in good, accessible
translations. Authors from over 20 countries are represented in its lists, and
many of its translated titles are available in English for the first time.

I asked Cheryl about
her life and about Aurora Metro, and its big
ambitions.

What
brought you to Singapore, and how long have you been here?

I’ve
been coming to Singapore for four years due to my husband Steve’s job,
establishing a Change Management Company here which operates in financial
services. I’ve also spent quite a lot of time visiting other
countries in South-East Asia, and in Australia, where I was born. As a
publisher based in London, I decided to use my time here to meet and develop
relationships with writers in the region. I’ve taken part in writers’ festivals
and conferences, as well as talks, and I've even organised a few book launches here.

Now
you are here, how does it work with Aurora Metro?

I’m
in daily contact with my publishing office in London usually about marketing,
production, finance or staff. As an editor, it’s easy to work on projects by
email and with Skype you can call into the office for regular chats. I go back
to Europe every other month to catch up and attend events such as London Book
Fair or Frankfurt Book Fair.

I’ve
just sent a new book to print in the UK called Liberty Bazaar which
is an historical novel about Liverpool’s role in the American Civil War. It’s
due out in May by a debut author called David Chadwick and we have a PR person
promoting it in UK in the summer and a PR person in USA promoting it in the
autumn.

I
have also printed some of our books and catalogues in Singapore, but found the
cost of shipping copies back to UK or US prohibitive.

One
consequence of being in the region is that I’ve met some of the festival
programmers from other countries. One of our authors, a Canadian, Avi Sirlin, has recently been invited to take part in the Ubud Writers’ Festival due to my
meeting with Janet de Neefe, the organiser. His novel, The Evoluntionist, concerns Alfred Russel
Wallace, the little-known Victorian naturalist who co-discovered the theory of
evolution with Darwin, and who spent many years collecting specimens in Malaysia
and Indonesia.

What
do you think of English-language publishing in Singapore?

There
are many good writers in English. Some of the work is very local and aimed at
Singaporeans. Singlish? Yes, it helps to create authenticity especially if
you are writing for a Singaporean audience. But don’t over use it if you want a
wider readership.

For others whose work might appeal to audiences beyond
the local region, it’s a shame that their work isn’t generally available
abroad. Some of them would also benefit from travel to up their game by meeting
with foreign writers, academics and critics and becoming part of the global
writing community. I congratulate PP Wong on her book The Life of a
Banana which has been longlisted for the Bailey’s Women’s Prize and I
hope this generates more interest in writers from South East Asia. (See here for more on PP Wong.)

I’m
told that TV in the region suffers from a lack of good content and I’d like to
see some kind of initiative for publishers or authors to meet with
programme-makers to pitch stories as this could lead to useful creative
collaborations.

I’d
like to see more translation work happening between languages so that I could
appreciate work which was written in Malay, Bahasa or Mandarin, for example. A
translation programme of some kind with funding attached to translate the best
work each year into at least one other language would be useful - although
English and Mandarin clearly have the biggest markets and would be the most
viable.

Leaving
issues of free speech and censorship aside, what do you think the publishing
industry in Asia needs if it is to grow, whether it is offering books in
English, or in local languages?

It
seems that authors are published too early in many cases without enough
editorial work being done to improve the manuscript for publication. This
doesn’t really help an author in the long-term as it lowers the bar for what is
acceptable to publish and doesn’t present the work in the best way. Some
authors here are more aware of the need for marketing than others - some seem
to think it’s unnecessary. I stood in line after a talk at last year’s
Singapore Writers Festival but the author failed to turn up at the signing for
his own books, although there was a queue of people waiting to meet him.

Some
local publishers are very helpful such as Amir Mohammed at Buku Fixi in Kuala
Lumpur. But in some cases local publishers fail to follow up. Also,
they often don’t have samples of the text in English, so even if you’re
interested, there’s no way of assessing the text without incurring costs. If
you are looking for new material and you regularly receive samples in English
of books from countries where this is standard, then you’re more likely to
consider those, which puts Asian books at a disadvantage.

Asia
is a region where the freedom to say what you like, about anything you like, is
rarely granted. Do you think that being forced to work within local
guidelines is a creative constraint on writers, or just a constraint?

I
have published writers from Eastern Europe who were under far more stringent
constraints than in Singapore and they found a way to express themselves, using
allegory, symbolism, sci-fi, dystopia etc. Writers and artists find ways round
these limitations. I can’t speak for publishers in the region, who
may be reliant on public funding, but I’m not subject to these constraints. As
we publish books in London, there’s no censorship, so editors act as the
gatekeepers.

I notice you
publish the play, Women of Asia, and the novel The River’s Song,
by one of Singapore’s most distinguished writers, Suchen Christine Lim. Can you
talk a little bit about these titles?

Women
of Asia by American-Japanese playwright Asa Palomera
was published to coincide with a production in Singapore. It had been produced
internationally already with good reviews and had won an award in Melbourne. It
is a hard-hitting drama about the treatment of women in Asia, and deals with
sex trafficking and bride burning in India. I’m currently looking for other
plays from the region which might have international appeal – and could be
produced abroad.

The River’s
Song by Suchen Christine Lim is a wonderful novel about the rise of
Singapore and the human cost of the country’s transformation in relation to the
communities which were cleared away from along the river banks into public
housing. It’s told through the eyes of an American-Singaporean musician who
returns after 30 years to visit her mother.

The
book was sent to me by Jacaranda Literary Agents who have been really helpful
in terms of advice and information about the scene here. Suchen, the author,
will be taking part in the Melbourne Writers’ Festival in August and has been
invited to participate in the International Writers’ Program in Iowa, USA,
where her novel is taught on the curriculum.

Do
you now intend to grow a list of books about Asia? If so, are you
looking for anything in particular? Fiction? Non-fiction? Theatre
and the arts? All of the above?

I’m
looking for books or plays which might appeal to an international audience as
we have distribution in English-language markets worldwide, and in Europe. I look
for a writer with an individual voice - and either a new story to tell, or an
old story being told in a new way.

We
also published a book about women in film recently, Celluloid Ceiling;
women film directors breaking through, which is the first book to give a
global overview of the film industry and women’s role within it. There are
chapters on Asia and China within it mentioning Asian women film directors and
raising their profile internationally. We also look for contributors
for non-fiction books, mainly academics or journalists.

Has
Aurora Metro published any works originally written in Asian languages? If
not, any plans to rectify that?

We’ve
published one dual language play text in English and Mandarin, called The
Dutiful Daughter by Charles Way.

To
publish work in translation generally requires some kind of subsidy to cover
the costs of the translation. Translated work can be hard to sell in the UK and
is often not commercially viable without a subsidy. Translators usually send me
samples of novels or plays which they’d like to translate and if I’m interested
in the material I often apply for a grant to cover the cost of the translation,
where possible. European countries have funding to enable this, but many Asian
countries don’t. This limits the chances of work in those languages crossing
borders unless the translator is willing to translate the work for free or
reduced fees.

Aurora
Metro is proud to support women writers. What, if anything, do you
think publishers in the West can do to help support women writers in Asia,
especially women who are living in countries with poorly developed publishing
industries?

I
think that with the internet, writers can access many opportunities around the
world. Our competition for women novelists, The Virginia Prize for Fiction, is
open to any woman writer over 18 who has an unpublished novel in English. There
are many writing competitions, fellowships and awards available. Personally,
I’d be happy to run some workshops while I’m here to give feedback on scripts - I used to do this for a Creative Writing course with the City Lit in London and
also for students at Middlesex University.

If you
were forced to pick one Aurora Metro title to recommend to readers in Asia,
which would it be, and why?

The
River’s Song would be my first choice but after that I’d suggest Pomegranate
Sky by Louise Soraya Black which is a love story set in Tehran at the
time of the revolution. It concerns a young woman who is having an illicit
affair with her art teacher. The novel was the first winner of our Virginia
Prize competition - the author is a lawyer who had written her first book
during a career break to have a baby. Incidentally, Louise Soraya Black went to
school in Indonesia, and her parents are originally from Iran.

Do
you have any advice for unpublished authors in Asia, whether they are writing
in English, or in Asian languages, and whether they are men, or women?

I’d
suggest thinking about writing for an international audience and finding a good
editor who will tell you honestly what needs to be improved. If you can’t find
an editor then send your manuscript off for appraisal to an established
literary consultancy website which offers editorial advice. I’ve never had a
manuscript arrive on my desk which could not benefit from some polishing,
editing down, rewriting or revision.